Communicating Impact
- Who is our audience? – funders, policy makers, donors, services
- What is the information that they want or need to hear?
- What channels do our audience engage with? – where are they?
- How accessible is our information? Is it easy to find, visual, aware of disabilities
- Choosing a format – presentations, podcast, video, visuals, infographics, case studies
- Keep it short and concise, people will only concentrate for short times
What is a brief but vivid
- An idea developed by Ronald Labonte (Canadian) in the 1990s
- Presenting someone’s story, experiences, or dialogue in a few sentences
- There is a link between BBVs and Social Stories (Carol Gray)
- Capturing and painting a picture of where someone was at, the journey they went through, and the impact for them and others
Why use Brief but vivid
- Share the difference that you made for people who engaged
- Provide feedback so that people can put the factual numerical data into context and see the impact for people and communities
- Use as a training tool
- Bring the data to life
- Paint a picture
Sentence types
- Descriptive: answers the wh- questions relevant to the situation. Where it is, who it’s occurring with, and why it’s happening. No assumptions or opinions should be included
- Perspective: includes opinions, feelings, ideas related to the situation. Can refer to the individual or other people’s feelings
- Directive: includes a range of responses for a particular situation. It’s important that they have a positive focus and refrain from using “have to” or “must”. Leave room for error – use “will try to…”
- Affirmative: This part includes statements that enhance the importance of engagement
- Cooperative: This could include anyone else who has been involved or benefitted from an intervention
Writing a brief but vivid
- Choose a focus – this could be one day or a whole programme
- During or at the end of a session, programme, or project someone might say something to you – a Mum might say: “before this … but now … and this means …”
- Or you might observe something really positive: he previously had a fear of …, but today …, and he felt …
- an example: Susanna was unhappy at School and refused to go as she felt bullied. She attended the Sólás youth programme; which initially she found challenging. Through conversations, activities, and socially engaging with other young people and the Sólás team, she understood more about how her behaviour might seem to others and, importantly, she has regained her own selfconfidence. Susanna is now attending School everyday; her Grandmother says the most important thing is that she is now smiling again.
